Immigrants’ share of the development workforce reached a file excessive in 2024, with foreign-born staff accounting for greater than 1 / 4 of the business’s labor power (26.3%). The share is even greater amongst building trades, for which one in three craftsmen is foreign-born. In a number of states, reliance on foreign-born labor is particularly pronounced: immigrants make up greater than 40% of the development workforce in California and Florida, 39% in Texas, and 38% in Nevada.
In accordance with the federal government’s occupational classification system, the development business employs staff throughout roughly 390 occupations. Of those, solely 28 are building trades, but these staff account for about 60% of the full building labor power. The remaining staff are in finance, gross sales, administration, and different off-site roles.
The focus of immigrants is especially excessive in key building trades important to house constructing, together with drywall and ceiling tile installers (57%), plasterers and stucco masons (56%), roofers (53%), painters (53%), and carpet, ground, and tile installers (51%).
The 2 most prevalent building occupations, laborers and carpenters, account for greater than 1 / 4 of the business’s labor power. Amongst them, 35% of carpenters and 43% of building laborers are foreign-born. These trades sometimes require much less formal training, but such staff persistently rank amongst these with probably the most extreme labor shortages, in accordance to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) and NAHB Reworking Market Index (RMI) surveys.
Within the April 2025 HMI survey, greater than half of builders reported both some or a severe scarcity of staff performing completed carpentry. Shortages are equally widespread for different building trades instantly employed by builders, resembling bricklayers and masons, regardless of the comparatively excessive share of immigrant staff in these occupations.
Labor shortages are additionally frequent amongst extra technical trades resembling electricians, plumbers, and HVAC technicians. In distinction to labor-intensive trades, these occupations sometimes require longer formal coaching, usually contain skilled licensing, and have a tendency to draw fewer immigrant staff. Over 40% of surveyed builders reported deficits in these expert trades.
The reported craftsmen scarcity is considerably much less acute for trades the place the foreign-born presence is extra pronounced, resembling drywall, ceiling, flooring installers, painters, and roofers – the trades the place immigrants make up greater than half of the workforce.
Greater than half (52%) of the nation’s three million immigrant building staff reside within the 4 most populous states – California, Texas, Florida, and New York. California and Texas every have over half 1,000,000 foreign-born building staff; collectively, these states account for roughly one-third of all immigrant staff within the business. Florida and New York contribute a further 19% mixed.
These states are usually not solely the most important by inhabitants but additionally longstanding immigrant gateways, making them significantly reliant on foreign-born building labor. Immigrants comprise 42% of the development workforce in California and 41% in Florida, adopted by 39% in Texas and 37% in New York.
On the similar time, reliance on foreign-born labor is increasing past these conventional hubs. Nevada, for instance, recorded the fourth-highest share of immigrant building staff in 2024 (38%), intently trailing Texas. Maryland and New Jersey additionally mirror this broader pattern, with immigrants accounting for 37% of the development labor power in every state.
In Connecticut, Massachusetts, Georgia, Virginia, Illinois, Arizona, and North Carolina, greater than one-quarter of building staff are foreign-born. On the different finish of the spectrum, a number of states, together with New Hampshire, Montana, Alaska, West Virginia, and Vermont, have immigrant shares beneath 5%.
As a result of immigrant staff are disproportionately concentrated in building trades, their presence amongst craftsmen exceeds their total share of the business in each state. In California and Texas, immigrants account for greater than half of all building tradesmen. In Florida, Maryland, and Nevada, the shares are equally elevated, approaching 50%, whereas in New Jersey and New York, greater than 45% of craftsmen are foreign-born.
Whereas most states draw most of their immigrant foreign-born staff from the Americas, Hawaii depends extra closely on Asian immigrants. European immigrants are a big supply of building labor in New York, New Jersey, and Illinois.
